Here is a list of additional programs/scripts/tweaks that help customize and improve upon windows. Ill do my best to aggregate all of the programs into the first post.Freeware is preferable, but in some cases shareware may be posted (IE if there is no decent freeware alternative). In order to make things easier when submitting a resource link please include: Resource name, a brief description (2-3 sentences), Price (and duration of trial period if any), OS Compatibility list helps if you can find it , and link to website its hosted on.

Rainmeter

Compatibility: Win XP through Win 10Price: FreewareLink:http://rainmeter.net/cms/Description: displays customization skins, like memory and battery power, RSS feeds and weather forecasts, right on your desktop. Many skins are even functional: they can record your notes and to-do lists, launch your favorite applications, and control your media player

QTTabsbar

Compatibility: Win XP through Win 10Price: FreewareLink:http://qttabbar.wikidot.comDescription: QTTabs bars primary function is to add tabs to windows explorer, making it easier to manage sessions with multiple tabs. QTTabs bar also has a variety of other customization features. NOTE: It can be somewhat difficult to customize it to your liking but the end result is pretty good.

Agent Ransack

Compatibility: Win XP through Win 10Price: Free FULL VERSION for non-comercial use. otherwise 40$Link:http://www.mythicsoft.com/page.aspx?typ ... &page=homeDescription: Agent Ransack is a search alternative to windows default search, it offers faster and better results, without a need to be indexed (which many believe is hard on SSD's), It can take advantage of the windows default indexing service if it isn't turned off.

Compatibility: XP - 10Price: 30 day free trial, and free stunted version; 25$ to buyLink:http://www.displayfusion.com/Description: Display fusion aims at multi-monitor functionality, from extending the task bar, to allowing separate backgrounds for each monitor and a host of other features including window snapping.

Compatibility: XP - 10Price: FreewareLink:http://www.snakebytestudios.com/project ... rsor-lock/Description: Cursor Lock, allows you to lock your cursor, either on screen or in a window via hot-key, making playing in Window-mode far easier.Note: the program itself is a little hard to configure innitially, and there is no option to start the program disabled (after a restart, your cursor will be locked in the active window, untill the toggle hotkey is pressed)

Explorer Toolbar Editor

Compatibility: Vista-10Price: FreewareLink:http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.16Description: This handy little tool allows users to add and remove buttons from the command bar (that blue toolbar added in windows vista, that changes depending on the folder) the only downside is you cant add custom button.

FileMenu Tools

Compatibility: 7-10Price: FreewareLink:http://www.lopesoft.com/en/filemenutoolsDescription: This program allows you to customize the right click context menu, with about 40 pre-built commands, or you can even add custom commands to any executable you wish. The only disadvantage i see is you cant pin directly to the right-click menu, but in a sub-menu labeled Filemenu Tools.Note: The installer includes some crap-ware that you probably want to avoid, so pay attention when installing!

This post is for all cosmetic mods/themes/programs. that don't necessarily add function to windows, but do help make it visually appealing or stylish. The format should generally be the same as above.

Tiny Window Borders

Compatibility: Win8Price: FreewareLink:http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.96Description: Adjust the width of windows borders in windows 8. Simple and functional. While not running all the time (once you make your settings you can forget about it or the program with your settings remaining)

Last edited by Jcee on Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The current post limit is 60000 characters.As for Display Fusion, we worked together to ensure our products are compatible with each other. I get a small commission if somebody buys DF through this site.

i used it for about 3 months before i had windows 8, it wasnt all that slow for me... but it does have a few inconsistencies when compared to the windows taskbar, and i would recomend if using it on windows 8, just removing the taskbar portion of the program

Here's a simple GUI tool to customize the command bar: http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.16 Between the Classic Explorer toolbar and the command bar, all commands in Explorer fit on two compact rows vs the abominable ribbon. It's a good idea to put those commands on the command bar which the Classic Explorer toolbar doesn't have.

FileMenu Tools is good but beware of the adware/crapware it bundles. With every version/update, it bundles new ways of installing crapware, some without option. I think crapware-bundling programs really suck.

the version he linked to i dont seem to see any added crapware that i didnt select during install, you just have to click advanced and uncheck the crapware install, and then dont click next, click skip for the next menu (which they placed in the back position) and the rest should be just hitting next

although i think i saw another right click context editor, ima try to find it again and compare them to see which is better, and thus worth noting before i update the innitial

i've just gotten used to being extra careful during all my installs.. if it at least gives me the option, i'll let the developer make a few extra bucks, i dont mind

but i really hate it when it behaves in anyway abnormally or maliciously by installing anything anywhere or making any reg entries or shortcuts i didnt specify or expect, or making things difficult to uninstall etc..

but ya, sorry if its difficult, but i seem to remember not having any problems with this program

I'd love something better, something with the option to pin directly, not through a sub-menu would be great..

didnt seem like to many problems with me (as i described) quite a few programs try to install 1-2 bloat/crapwares you just have to pay attention during the install , something you really should be doing anyways.. so in a way they help correct a bad behavior XD..

but yea ill still look for that alternative i seem to remember.., but not tonight XD

a great program for viewing files that explorer sometimes cant even see, and for file management... but everytime you start it you have to click a number which always appears in a different order, or it asks for a different number to click, 1, 2, or 3

a bit weird.. but its a great tool, and its his way of offering it free, while still trying to make some money on the side.. thats cool

its alot of work to make these free programs, i'm totally cool with them wanting to make some money, so long as its nothing malicious, devious, hidden, suspicious, or doesnt behave or uninstall like it should.. i even call anything that leaves unwanted icons, links, or folders around crapware too

it ask you to click a number?, hmm thats his way of offering the full featured version for free, and still giving the users a reason to buy it..., personally thats one of my preferred methods for shareware (aslong as the 'anoynances' are not to annoying

i really hate trialware, and will uninstall/not download something thats trialware regardless of the trial length (if its 6 months or more i might give it a shot, but only if theres no free alternatives)ive actually donated quite a bit more to freeware than ive ever spent on software

in many, many countries, its difficult to obtain a credit card that you could even use online.. they give them away in developed countries, but alot of countries you have to put up hundreds of thousands of USD as collateral, your house, and everything, and it takes months to get it, if you can get it

so freeware is all a large percentage of the worlds population can even get..

@JoeJoeSoftI think i should probably focus more twards Integrated improvements on this list, a mass folder renamer is more of a specialist toolif you could find a decent file renamer with good shell integration though.. that might be worth adding...

@T800;ill add that to the list, in a few minutes after i test it out (it says for win7 but some of the features will likely work on w8)

@borderpaddingthis issue is a rather tiny one , maybe ill make another post/topic specific to cosmetic only changes (yes it adds a few milimeters more space to do stuff.. but it is still cosmetic

ok, well, the main reason i put it there is that RenameMaster integrates itself into a folders context menu, so you have a quick way to rename a folder full of items, for example, you can delete "- Shortcut" from all files, or add any word or property to any place in the name, etc. and it also creates bat files and can save & run scripts..

i suggest, keeping the thread open to tools which are useful in the workflow of setting up any custom settings or configurations you might want to add, including cosmetic, or advanced user customizations, even things like Icon-Creators, etc.

otherwise we'll have several threads full of programs, which would seem more difficult.

JoeJoeWindows shell does need a more advanced renamer; however this one seems way to advanced @.@

the one in filemenu tools (you linked to it above, seems like a decent blend of advanced features and basic designill probably be adding filemenu tools soon actually.... cause ive been messing around with it, although some of the integeration is a little rough

@ FileRenamer, there are many more difficult to use programs, that can do the similar things to FileRenamer, but this one is just drop down lists, its way more simple.. I used to use one where i had to add all my commands with special syntax to get the job done.. its made life much simpler.. for those of us who often find ourselves needing to rename items

Sure there are more complicated ones, with the same or more featuresthere are also simpler ones, with better integration and enough features also its integration isnt so great, (it works on whole folders sure, but you cant select a bunch of files, and right click, to get its context. (atleast not without a 3rd party app)

you have filemenu tools installed right?compare JoeJoes to the "advanced renamer" tool that it comes bundled with filemenu tools, just to see if theres any features you really need that you can only do in Joe joes (i know joe joes is more powerful, just wondering if you truely need/use that extra power)

In my personal opinion UI should be as minimal as possible, any button you dont use, is a button not worth having

it wasnt powerful enough for a couple projects.. where i was extracting databases to thousands of text files, naming them with a line from within the database, adding to the name to keep them in order, where the entire name was separated with underscores too, then renaming them all to completely different normal names to put them in various different orders

but filemenu tools is way powerful too, but i think rename master is easier, since it just asks you questions of what u want to do, so u just click buttons more than trying to figure anything out..

Compatibility: All NT-based versions of Microsoft WindowsPrice: FreewareDescription: ERUNT is the famous registry-only alternative to System Restore, a one of a kind rare gem like Classic Shell. It's been around for a long time. ERUNT is a free tool that automatically backs up your Registry while you are using Windows (even if registry files are locked) and allows you to restore it from Recovery Console or cmd prompt when Windows does not boot. You can also restore the registry from within Windows if you want to just go back to an older Registry to repair some damaged Registry entries. The great advantage of ERUNT is that the backup of the registry is made in the same format in which it is stored in C:\Windows\system32\config so you can simply copy over the backup even if ERUNT's own restore process fails. Each registry restore point is independent of the other points, you have complete control over each backup. It can also back up the registry to any path of your choice. The backups made with ERUNT are small and take only a few seconds since they are only the registry files and can be made to a folder which is NTFS-compressed to even further reduce their size.

^^ Of course. I assumed you would read the FAQ on the site. ERUNT has to be run as administrator to work. But they recommend disabling UAC, absolutely NO IMHO. If you want to correctly do it at startup (by default, startup apps can't run as admin), use an app like Startup Unblocker (http://www.jimmah.com/vista/Applications/autostart_admin_program.aspx). Startup Unblocker uses Task Scheduler's COM APIs to schedule it as a task to run with admin privileges at startup. It will automate the work of having to set up any program to run as admin at startup via a neat, simple UI. Btw note that ERUNT consumes lots of CPU so your startup might be slowed down if the registry gets very large. As an alternative, you could schedule ERUNT via Task Scheduler to run when your PC is idle for x number of minutes. When PC is idle, nothing else is running so the daily registry backup will finish more quickly and nothing will be slowed down.

It increases the power of Classic Shell amazingly by letting you add countless useful commands as buttons to your start menu simply by typing: nircmd.exe followed by one of the commands listed on their site.

Last edited by Tenzen on Thu Mar 07, 2013 7:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Adds Size of the Folder information to Windows 7 Explorer.. its not a column, but opens a small window that displays all folders & their sizes where ever you navigate to. if anyone figures out how to add a folder size column, let me know

Edit: apparently the above site from windowsclub has a bunch of adware or other crap.. at least the program above was clean when I got it.. its the only one i've used from their site.. so, i guess use the others at your own risk...

Last edited by Tenzen on Fri Mar 22, 2013 5:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I found this cool little portable 88kb program called Signal NetStat 2. it can help you troubleshoot problems with add-ons, extensions, tools, and other things which you suspect are covertly accessing the internet, etc..

Click on a Remote IP Address that your computer is connected to, and it will list the Port numbers & Local Port Numbers it uses, as well as the status of Listening/Wait/Connected status of each port, and also the Host Name

Scroll through the Remote IP list, click it, and the Host Name will scroll automatically after you click

You can click "Block" to block an IP's Access to Ports

Click "Show Hosts" to display the Hosts, and "Show Listenings" for Listening Status

you can also click to Get DNS & click to Get IP

I suggest not turning on "refresh every 5 seconds" since it takes a little while to refresh, and just refresh when you want to see whats going on

Compatibility: Xp-Windows 8Price: FreewareLink:http://ejie.me/Description: Adds tabs, that preform pretty similar to chromes, it can be unstable at times (especially in conjunction with QTTabsbar), and doesn't have to many features, but it is aesthetically pleasing, and from the looks of it, is still being improved.

I still need to do some more testing on it before i add it to the first post though .

Strangely, if you open a explorer windows with the win+e shortcut, clover DOES open with the xp classic navigation. But , if you open a new tab OR open a windows explorer windows but the launching explorer.exe or else, the XP classic navigation won't work ?!

clover doesnt seem to have alot of options right now, so if clovers overridding classics menus sometimes, you have 2 options, disable the feature in classic shell; so its the same in both situations. or try to contact clovers creator to get it fixed.

also i suspect that the feature isnt intentionally disabled, so it probably wont get any support. (it might be an update issue, IE clover using a copy of explorer.exe, and classic shell writing to the origional)

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